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“Times of Change” – Photographs by José Giribás M.
5th September 2019 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
The German Consulate General Presents:
“Times of Change”
This exhibition brings together images taken before and after the fall of the Wall. These are black-and-white photographs of the two parts of Berlin before, during and after the events of 1989, which irrevocably changed the political geography of Berlin and Germany and the geopolitical balance of the Cold War period.
The exhibition is complemented by a number of colour photographs showing the Wall and some of the Events that have shaped Berlin’s history.
José Giribás Marambio
José Giribás M. was born in Santiago de Chile in 1948. After the coup of Pinochet in 1973 he left his homeland as a refugee of the United Nations and went into exile to Argentina. In 1974, he travelled to Berlin on a scholarship from Freie Universität.
After training as a photo technician and 12 years working in a large laboratory, José Giribás began to work as a freelance photojournalist. During the Pinochet dictatorship he travelled to Chile several times for reporting. Since 2003 he works together with the agency Süddeutsche Zeitung Photo.
José Giribás M. sees himself as a documentary photographer. His personal passion and the favorable circumstance of being able to move relatively freely in a divided Berlin make his exhibition one of the most complete documentaries of the historical events of 1989/1990 by a single photographer.
José Giribás M. has lived in West Berlin since 1974. However, his experiences in Chile brought him closer to life in the GDR. Over the years, he began to work sporadically with the GDR news agency (ADN). However, according to Giribás, “it was a constant struggle to get useful pictures”. For example, he was admitted to the legendary Bruce Springsteen concert in Weißensee, but at every step he was accompanied by a Stasi employee, who prevented him from photographing the thousands of visitors at close range.
In the autumn of 1989, Giribás felt the atmosphere of impending change and never missed an opportunity to take to the streets of East Berlin. He also photographed the events of the collapsing regime, such as the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the GDR or the official press conferences that conveyed the growing tension, including the significant press conference at which Günter Schabowski confusedly announced the opening of the border. As with most people, the historical significance of this moment was only later understood by Giribás.
Previous solo exhibitions:
– 2013 “Pictures of a dictatorship”,
Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Berlin
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights e.V. (ECCHR), Berlin
Headquarters of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich
– 2014 “Times of Change”
Institute Cervantes, Berlin
– 2015 “Impressions 1968 – 2015”
Photo Gallery at Friedrichshain, Berlin
– 2018 “Torture is Not Talked About”
Art spaces of the Michael Horbach Foundation, Cologne
House of the Federal Press Conference, Berlin
Gallery Tapir, Berlin
Location and time:
German Consulate General
871 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Opening reception: Thursday, September 5, 2019, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Exhibition: September 5 –October 4, 2019
Admission is free, but an RSVP is required for the opening reception at: times-of-change